Decorative water fountains often include a basin that serves as a water reservoir, at least one statue supported in or above the basin, and a pump that delivers water from the basin to some location on the statue. The water then sprays from or flows down the surface of the statue and returns into the basin. The term “disappearing water fountain” typically refers a fountain in which the water reservoir is hidden, often below pebbles or some other decorative cover material.
Disappearing water fountains have been constructed using a sturdy porous lid that covers the top of the basin. A statue or multiple statues are then placed on top of a portion of the lid, often in the center of the lid, and pebbles or other decorative cover material is spread over the remainder of the lid. The pump is usually located within the basin, where it feeds a water supply tube that runs up through the statue. The water, which is pumped from the basin up through the water supply tube, is released to flow over the exterior of the statue and into the basin where the water is recaptured and recirculated. This conventional disappearing water fountain design is amenable to standardization of the basin, lid and pump in a few desirable sizes, which produces a modular design that is flexible and amenable to supporting a wide range of statues. This basic design concept can therefore be used to create a wide range of disappearing water fountains from a relatively small number of modular components that can support a wide range of appropriately sized statues.
This conventional disappearing water fountain has a shortcoming, however, in that the statue is typically supported directly on top of the lid covering the basin. Although the lid may include a pump opening to allow removal and replacement of the pump located inside the basin, other types of maintenance and cleaning of the basin require removal of the statue and the lid covering the basin. This can be a significant problem when the fountain contains a large statue that has to be detached and physically removed from its position atop the lid. Although other fountain configurations with separate mounting systems for the statute have been designed, they do not have the same modular, easy to install attributes of the modular disappearing water fountain.
Accordingly, there is a need for a disappearing water fountain that is easier to maintain than the conventional disappearing water fountain, and that still retains the same modular, easy to install attributes of the modular disappearing water fountain.